Douala Receives American Entrepreneurs

The exchange with the business community in the economic capital aimed at rebooting business ties between both countries.

A delegation of 17 American entrepreneurs and officials of the State of Pennsylvania were in Douala for a two-day business and entrepreneurial trade mission. Made up of heads and representatives of the African and Caribbean Business Council (ACBC), Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, alongside the USA-Cameroon Chamber of Commerce, the mission's overall objective was to reboot already existing as well as create new socio-economic ties in the cooperation between Cameroon and the United States.

Their first stop was at the Douala City Council on Thursday April 25, where they communed with the council officials. The relevance of this encounter is situated in the Twinning Agreement that exists between the city of Douala (Cameroon) and Philadelphia (USA), masterminded by the then Ambassador of Cameroon to the USA, His Excellency Paul Pondi and the then Mayor of Philadelphia, Wilson Goode on November 12, 1985. The Twinship Act proper was signed in September 1986 in Philadelphia with the then Government Delegate to the Douala City Council, Christian Tobie Kuoh and the then Minister of Town Planning and Housing, Abdoulaye Babale representing Cameroon; while Mayor Wilson Goode signed on behalf of the city of Philadelphia. Thus began a history of multisectorial collaboration in sectors like public administration, education, industrial and economic relations, and socio-cultural exchanges. Though, activities drastically dropped in 2004, which met with the exchange of letters of reminder between both cities. Addressing the august visitors, the Government Delegate, Fritz Ntonè Ntonè, on behalf of his community, expressed the desire of re-launching activities.

In return, the head of the American Delegation, Alain Mortha and the President of ACBC, Azuka Anyiam, were unanimous in their declarations that their presence marked a sign of long lasting relationship and business ties. This was concretised the following day, April 26, at the Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Craft where over 300 business contacts were made with home-based entrepreneurs, during a working session. The exchange featured varying services in the domains of agriculture, mining, healthcare, education, law, banking and finance, entrepreneurship, technologies, amongst others.

Azuka Anyiam explained to CT that about seven MOUs were expected from both government and private sectors. He equally announced the team's descent to Limbe in the South West Region for a similar exercise, though with a higher proportion. This includes the inspection of an ongoing low cost housing project, in view of financing a similar programme in Douala, as a major fallout of this memorable encounter.